What is
BAK's Report? Canadian public relations counsel Brian Kilgore
writes BAK's Report for to inform and entertain PR people and executive management,
and to help them be better at managing and implementing public relations and corporate communications
strategies and tactics.

COMMUNICATIONS-BASED
MANAGEMENT COUNSEL
Broad information on my services, plus hints and advice on public
relations. Next up -- speech writing tips and information

For reasons that escape me, mediocre
designer like to run logo so small they are unreadable, and silly
clients accept this.

PEPSI
HAS BRAINS, though. Here's a wall painting along the side of
Gretsky's restaurant in Toronto. It looks good, and it is visible across
this parking lot from King Street West, in a block full of restaurants,
right across the street from the Holiday Inn on King.

Just after I took this photograph, a
hockey fan came along, set his camera up on a post, set the self-timer
and ran across the street to have his picture taken. It's a good tourist
attraction, a good promotion for Pepsi, and the loigo placement is
excellent.

Saturday, November 27, 2004

Your advertising can make
you look stupid
There's a big shakeup at the City of Toronto municipal government, and
with luck, people who create and those who approve bad ads will get the
axe. This
ad is on a transit shelter on King Street West in downtown Toronto, and
has an admirable purpose. Get citizens to turn down their water heaters.
Save energy and keep people from getting scalded.

And it has info -- except you can't read it because the
type is too small and placed when you need to get down on your hands and
knees on the sidewalk, with your bum in the air.
PR LESSON? Get your ad agency to mock up your ad in the
context of where it will be seen. And lean a proof of your ad against
the wall, and then back away until it is not readable. Now ask yourself
whether your desired audience will be close enough in the real world.